Well a few know me. I am a rodder at heart who needed a ride since moving back to Melbourne (was in ACT, long story, hey a good place no truly) saw the van advetised and jumped on it. A young guy had it and had let it go. I have stripped the interior out, replaced most of it, tidied up the dash, just the little things. Underneath was a mess I've done the whole front end, replaced the tail shaft, shocks and now enjoyin the cruisn. Not finished with it yet, got a few more things I want to do with it, the paint needs a littel work, then a few aded touches to make it into my van. I must admit the whole vanning thing is growing on me, and I find myself wanting to find another to have a crack at, do the full on 80's feel to it. mmmm to think I was aiming towards a '34 ford delivery (panel van), that is changing slightly.I'm basically a laid back guy who gets around around a bit, love seeing what others are doing with their rides, and have picked up a few ideas over the years. I am llooking forward to Geelong next year, will be a blast (yes Daz I still need to fill in the forms). Thats about it really. now you know a bit more about me, scary really

most of you know me - i've been in vanning (not necessarily VCV) for around 14-15 years. My first nats was 1995, Tara, my lovely special 13yr teenager with attitude and the like, was only 2 months old when we first went, so she's been in vanning all her life! lol, With my ex we've owned 6 whole vans together, plus one half of a van, i.e. rear half ha ha. They've always been chryslers, none on the road which really frustrated me, he even had an original drifter, but sold it in the end, due to health reasons, there was no way he could rebuild all these cars/vans. I'm a Holden girl at heart, so most may remember Dragon's Knight, my VR commodore wagon with dragon mural on the bonnet. Dragon's Knight is going to Commodore heaven, engine's dead along with a number of other bits, but that's life. I have a new lease on life since separating with my beautiful boy, Beigy. He's original, well, was, slowly making mods, so i may have to change his name - he was called beigy cos he was so original, he stood 3ft off the ground before i lowered him 3ft - oh, sorry, i meant 3 inches, but you guys can use a ruler to figure that one out. Getting back to being original, he had standard wheels etc too. Well he now sports "Nike runners", lowered, an interim soundsystem which will hopefully be improved upon soon, i'm planning his interior as we "speak" (so watch out in Technical section cos i'm gonna be asking advice, hints, tips etc on how to go about things), his windows will be tinted too soon, he's converted to gas (i laugh in the face of petrol bowsers!). There will be more, but it'll just have to wait. I'm a busy girl, working 6 days a week at 2 jobs to keep things afloat, so progress on van and house is slow. I enjoy what i do, i have great friends who i can share stories with and have a drink and a laugh and no matter how silly i am, i think they still luv me. So those that didn't know me, or even those that thought they knew me, you know a little more now.

Da names Aaron, you know me by my nick name "Azza" thats the name ive had since primary school and its stuck. My intrest in vans has been around for a long time. I like a good chat and laugh, collecting 70s stuff, listening to 70s-80s music and anything old skool

I was placed on this planet and given 1 go at life, so im here to get up to no good and enjoy it

70s-groover wrote:Da names Aaron, you know me by my nick name "Azza" thats the name ive had since primary school and its stuck. My intrest in vans has been around for a long time. I like a good chat and laugh, collecting 70s stuff, listening to 70s-80s music and anything old skool

I was placed on this planet and given 1 go at life, so im here to get up to no good and enjoy it

Cheers Azza

Good to hear that the computer finally let you in Azza, great your here. Chris is looking well

1st one is (rear windowed) for everyday use so nothing real special, but have tried to restore it as best as possible. Currently have repaired all rust in footwells, sealed and deadened, full undercar respray, all new suspension components and bushings / ball joints / tie rod ends, new slotted front rotors, Pedders (not quite new) HD front and rear (possibly 1 tonner - extra leaf) springs resprayed firewall and chassis, repaired all other body rust and damage, air conditioning partly installed and WB Statesman interior / dash being installed (doing wiring installation and mods now) and installing WB Statesman rear disc brakes. Have 253 blue engine / traaumatic for the time being but re-building a 308 for gas in the near future. Will have integrated Air cond. and cruise control and electric windows / central locking. Due on the road in 3-4 weeks (unless I cant decide what colour to paint it...)

2nd one is windowless and has so far - WB Caprice front / GTS Guards, WB Statesman dash and tons of spares.... Got lots of ideas for it and have some Commodore running gear which will probably find its way into this car. This one will try to cross the classic WB Statesman style with 21st century tech.... Thats the best way I can describe it....

Why and why now??? Well I have not been a member of a van club but did have a HJ Van from 81 to about 89. I also had friends in the scene in the mid 80s. Back in the days of Vanrat, Alleycat, Moonlight Dreamer, Taboo (and the list goes on....) I played in bands back then (and still do now) and did a few gigs for the Eastern Suburbs club as well as playing at the 86 Nationals in Albury Woodonga. Soon after that I became a career person so hobbies like cars took a back seat as I was also maintaining my music throughout this time. The Car / Trailer combination worked best for me due to needing a vehicle for corporate use as well as music.

After taking some time out, I saw a WB van advertised very cheap and also had a V8 HZ sedan given to me so I thought I would just get it going with the 8 on gas and then toy with it for a while. It became much more economical than using my VY SS towing a box trailer to gigs, and as the corporate side disappeared the van became the obvious choice... but reliability was not great in its first year. So 2 more vans were purchased off Ebay for spares and one was chosen for the new workhorse. The plan? 70s-80s strength with showroom reliability. The original shell was ordinary so once it finally came off the road it was donated to someone in exchange for labour working on the new van. The suspension, braking and drivetrain are all basically replaced and close to completed. The wiring is currently being done with a multi-pin plug/socket installed on the firewall. A remote relay box is being installed and all looms in the engine bay done from scratch. Additional wiring is being included to both the engine loom and relay box for future needs. Special attention being paid to the high current areas like lights, air cond. and heating to minimise current through driver controls.

The planning stage of this car and the fact i still had another reasonable windowless shell as well as a few other collected parts from HQ-WBs and more recent commodores as well as a few scattered ideas about what cars could have and there was a skeletal blueprint for my next step up in vans. Now this car is still very conceptual so I aint gonna even guarantee it will ever hit the road much less get finished or even live up to some of the potential I expect it to have.... but then again... it could just happen as planned (causing a certain heart attack for me!!! LOL)

Meanwhile.... I will be completing my workhorse vehicle very soon (as the SS is killing me in fuel!!!) and hope to at least stick my nose in and see what vanning is like over 20 years since my last visit....

I doubt it will be up to entering but am hoping it comes up nice and tidy. Spent a lot of time getting it straight and mechanically sound... But at the end of the day I am building this one for getting my music gear to gigs... so it will be an everyday driver...

The other van I do have some interesting and I hope unique ideas for... and one of them I hope to have fitted by the end of the year... (makes sure curtains are up covering the important bits... lol) so will see how that idea pans out.

Welcome Craig,you should come to a VCV meeting, 1st thursday of the month so the next one is next thursday. 8pm hot rod rooms in oakleigh if you're interested.sounds like you have been busy - good luck with the vans, doesn't matter what you do to them, it'll end up with your stamp on it and that's what makes it special. so long as you like what you've done.